We hiked from the south end of the Yakima Skyline trail. My 1995 version of ""55 Hikes in Central Washington"" is totally outdated on the trailhead. It describes a ""temporary 1996 trailhead"" 0.5 miles from Gibson Road. There is indeed a trailhead and parking there, but this is nowhere near the Yakima Skyline trail. Just keep following the road parallel to the fence marking the boundary of the Murray Wildlife Refuge; the road eventually crosses the fence (not gated) and reaches the real trailhead: what ""55 Hikes"" describes as ""the abandoned South Trailhead"", 2.7 miles from Gibson Road. There is a shot-up privy and parking there; the actual trailhead is a few hundred feet down the road. The trail goes up and up and up. We went up to what ""55 Hikes"" calls Peak 2737 (that was approximately its elevation). This is 2 hours and 2400' gain from the trailhead. You have great views down to the Roza dam, and when we there in April, a fair number of wildflowers.

Doc and I picked up the trail at Selah, just N of Yakima (see “55 Hikes” directions - they are accurate) to hike to the viewpoint above Roza Dam on the Yakima Rv. Though it was hot, hot, hot! and the flowers are gone, it’s a strangely beautiful area. The vast view is void of trees, with the ribs of the slowly eroding mountains showing here and there, with the beautiful cloudscapes that only eastern Washington can offer, hovering above. The naked Saddle Mtns. are visible to the southeast, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier are visible to the west. The trail goes steadily up, up, up. In the heat, it’s a little irritating to arrive at a summit, only to see the trail skirting a taller summit just ahead. But after the fifth (and last) summit, you’re on top, looking down on Roza Dam. The trail continues, but the day was hot, so we called it a day. It was eerily silent up there, except for the howling gusts of wind, which was thankfully cool.

With the weather forecast typical for the west side, I decided to take a drive to Central Washington for a little sun. I headed out friday night to locate a good spot to camp. I was woken by the heat of the sun on Saturday morning - it looked as if I had made the right choice! I continued from the Umtanum Creek ridge following the Durr Road to the trailhead. Only one other vehicle parked. Although sun was still overhead, the clouds to the west looked a little dark. After reaching the high point at 3550 ft lunch seemed in order. Just as I was pulling out a granola bar, the wind picked up and it started to hail!! Good thing that the 10 essentials came along. I pulled out my rain gear and enjoyed watching the storm move across the canyons. On my way back, I ran into 2 other groups on the trail and one couple heading out for an overnight. The sun and wind battled to see who could get me to remove my jacket the whole time. Be aware - Spring/Manning have a few extra turns in their directions. Turn right at the end of the freeway exit 109. Pass several gas stations, etc and turn left at the Subway. You will be on Umtanum Rd. Take this to the obvious left turn to Durr. Rd. once you get on gravel.

Having read a recent report concerning this area (wildflowers!) we decided to try it on a Thursday day off. We decided on arriving ""from the North"" as described in 55 HIkes in Central WA. We finally left seattle around 10am, and were in or near Ellensburg in over an hour. We knew we had to pick up the USGS maps for this hike and were able to do that in Ellensburg at a student bookstore about 1.5 mi north of 1-90/exit 109. Take a right off the exit, go 1.5 mi, turn right at the Taco Bell/7-11 and the bookstore is 1blk up on the left. Watch out for grannies in station wagons taking unprotected lefts. Get all the maps you need there. According to the ranger in Cle Elum, the driving directions to the TH are confusing. We took her advice (also confusing) and heading back south from the bookstore took a right at McDonalds. This sends you out of town, into the hills, and to unmarked Durr Road. If you have the maps, you'll know when you've found it because it is on the map. Turn here and follow the old Durr road per the instructions in 55 HIkes. The corrolla wagon was able to ford the creek just fine after about 4 miles. Then it was carefully up, up to the top of the rim. We parked at the TH with the radio towers in view just above us to the east. Awesome hike! There was no one else there and the wildflowers were great. The sunflowers were going full-bore and all of the shorter succulents were going nuts too. Pinks, yellows, blues, greens. Occassionally it looked like a movie set as if all of these little bouquets had been placed here and there just to look cute. The air smelled fresh and sagey. We hiked west about 3 miles and had lunch on a summit strewn with a few bullet casings and the remains of a shack. From there I spotted what looked like 5 big horn sheep! We also saw a salamander, a big gorgeous butterfly and many interesting insects. On the way back we ran into 2 guys in a truck driving (illegally') along the old road/trail. For some reason they decided to speed up once they saw us in front of them. Good (') old boys out for a drive, I suppose...

TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2000 – YAKIMA SKYLINE RIM TRAIL Tired of hiking in trees' Tired of hiking in snow' Want to see a ton of wildflowers and succulent plants not seen regularly in the deep forests of the Cascades' Time to head east to hike open desert country above the Yakima River Canyon! Dan and I met up and were loaded up and hiking by shortly after 10:00am. Directions to the “new” 1996 mentioned south trailhead in 55 Hikes Central Washington are perfectly accurate, so I don’t know what all the confusion among some folks is about finding the area. It was exactly ½ mile off of Gibson Rd. at the sharp corner. At the large parking area, the gate is closed for keeping the elk in the refuge, but driving in through the gate is a nice way to get further in so your miles are spent roaming the open lands. After Dan played gate-master, we drove 1.5 miles to a flat area and simply parked off in the grasses to begin our trek at approximately 1800’. We knew that the Skyline Rim Trail was to the east up over the ridge, and thus began by heading cross country up the long vast slopes toward the barely visible old power poles up at the top of the ridge. It took us nearly an hour to hike up, as we were never going more than 5 minutes without major photography stops. The wildflowers and succulent plants were fantastic, and all the while intoxicated with the powerfully beautiful smell of the new sage growth surrounding us. Wow! Views of Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, and the entire agriculture loaded valley below were constantly present as well. Upon reaching the visible ridge we aimed for, we were in a landmine of not snakes, but wildflowers. Some of the highlights included: Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) Hooker’s onion (Allium acuminatum) Thyme-leaved buckwheat (Eriogonum thymoides) Thread-leaved phacelia (Phacelia linearis) Silky lupine (Lupinus sericeus) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Fern-leaved desert parsley (Lomatium dissectum) Douglas buckwheat (Eriogonum douglasii) Heart-leaved buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum) Yellow salsify (Tragopogon dubius) Narrow-leaved haplopappus (Haplopappus stenophyllus) Hooker’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza hookeri) Cusick’s sunflower (Helianthus cusickii) A good 30 minutes were shot up there, and Dan managed to have his polarize filter fall to pieces on him. He got that fixed, and we continued on. From this local, we dropped down into a valley/draw to meet up with a faint old road path that lead steeply up to a far distant ridge. While dropping down cross-country to intersect with the path, we came across what we both felt was a Badger burrow. Very impressive large hole dug out, a good 7-9” in diameter. There is also a slight chance it was a coyote digging for mice, but the hole was that large as far in as we could see, as was the “back-door”. It was surrounded by wildflowers as well, making for a remarkable photography stop. Upon finally reaching the high ridge, we intersected the actual Yakima Skyline Rim trail, and found ourselves looking down 1500’ at the Yakima Canyon and the Roza Dam. We hit the trail right where the lone power line comes up the canyon walls from the dam. At this point we went a little ways and had lunch…a fast lunch as the winds weren’t gusting enough in our snug lunch bench at the cliff edge of the canyon walls to keep from being swarmed by knats. So we packed up and hiked north along the Skyline Rim trail gaining more elevation to get around a far distant area we were aiming for. Just as we got to our destination, grand views down across the Roza Creek valley as it intersects the Yakima Canyon awaited. At this precise moment, we flushed up two beautiful Chukers as well, which was a fine treat! We then headed back, finding a spine skeleton section of either a baby deer or a coyote off the trail, serving as yet another piece of a wonderful land full of stories unseen but told by the sign we witnessed. About ½ mile before getting back to our original lunch spot, we again headed out off trail across the lands to make a loop out of our day, this time aiming to hike down out a valley/gully about two ridges NW of our original area of entry. It turned out to be a wonderful choice, as we eventually intersected a trail, hiked out a rather lush gully, and found ourselves on the road not more than ¼ mile from where the rig was parked! A fantastic, dusty, warm and comfortably breezy hike that we made into a loop by simply hiking half our day cross-country. If you are skittish of off trail hiking, this is the place to practice, as you can’t get lost if you use common sense – and there sure aren’t any trees to get you disoriented in! Somewhere in the 6-8 mile day, six rolls of slides, and a nice drive back out up the Yakima Canyon Rd. finished the day right. Alan L. Bauer 5/23/00